CHAPTER TEN – THE ICING ON THE CAKE

AHSOKA

When we first found Katooni and she had woken from her drug-induced sleep into confusion and panic, Hero took her into the kitchen and fed her a cupcake to calm her down. It was at that moment, while Katooni was scarfing down the treat, that Hero knew she wanted to adopt her. It looks like she's linked cake and her daughter; all it takes is the scent of cupcakes to make Hero misty-eyed.

Katooni, too, has linked cake to something – but not to Hero. She craves it every time something good or comforting happens in her life. Case in point: When Barriss kidnapped Katooni, Hero stress ate half a box of cupcakes. Within a day of getting home, Katooni polished off the other half.

In the minds of the St. Jameses, a pregnancy announcement definitely calls for cake.

As Hutch cuts the factory-made dessert on the table, Tandin and Mina give up their honor seats at the ends of the table to Kira and Hero. I set Tav up in his high chair and put a sliver of cake on his tray, knowing more of it will be used as face paint than for its intended use.

"Hero," Steela says, pouring a glass of lemonade for herself "I think you're the only person who attacked an Inquisitor armed with only a bouquet of flowers, while-," she counts backwards on her fingers. "While six weeks pregnant, and lived to tell the tale."

"What can I say? I'm amazing." Hero says and sticks a bite of cake in her mouth. "I'll tell you what's amazing though. Kira managing to stay undercover at the Imperial Academy for two years!"

Kira blushes. "Thank you. Speaking of which, I should be getting back to Alderaan. I told my instructors I was going to Onderon for a research project."

Saw snaps his fingers. "And that's where we come in. After all your help on the job, we didn't want you to get in trouble with your commanding officers. So, we did your research project for you."

Kira's eyebrows go up. "My research project?"

Hutch grabs a holopad from Saw's hands. "Your very thorough, yet somewhat erroneous, research paper on the crew of con men terrorizing the Japrael system!"

"You wrote her paper about us?" Steela squawks.

"It's mostly about Hutch and Saw." Hero says.

To prove the point, Hutch flips to a section of the paper and reads aloud. "The hacker associated with this group is only known by his hacker handle, the legendary "Cashier from Hell." This very adept individual cripples his targets' security systems, robbing them blind with a single keystroke."

"You might want to edit that," I whisper to Kira.

"Heavily." She agrees.

Saw places the datapad in front of her. "So there's your cover story. You have to write the conclusion later though; I'm really bad at conclusions."

Kira gives him a polite, if a little forced, smile. "Thank you." She says, taking the datapad. "I don't mean to doubt your work at all, but how can we ensure that Atai isn't released on bail or the charges are dropped."

"Kira, are you familiar with the laws of nature?" Steela asks.

Kira nods. "Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten."

"There's a third." Steela says. "Don't mess with Mina Bonteri's children. And in her book, all children are her children."

In her chair, Mina takes a long and slow sip of caf from her favorite mug.

"They're right to call me BonScary," is all she says.

…

Meanwhile, at one of the Empire's most secure prisons, a Zygerrian man is shoved into a two-person cell.

"You can't do this!" he shouted. "I am the King of Zygerria and the instant I walk out of here, I'll send you all to the mines!"

"So, you broke the slavery code?" his cellmate asks.

Atai scoffs. "Silence."

The other man jumps off his bunk. "Warden Torrance. I broke the Imperial statutes regarding advanced interrogation. Still want to get fresh with me?"

Atai Molec knows when to self-preserve, and he wisely changes tack. "My apologies, Warden."

"That's better." Tor sits down on his bunk. "So, do you have any chance at appeal?"

Before Atai can answer, a guard comes to the door and places a package in the food slot. "Delivery for Mr. Torrance."

Tor grabs the package and tears the wrapping off, revealing a holorecorder. He presses the button to begin the recording.

"Five thousand and she's all yours." The voice of Sierra Bonteri says. "You know as well as I do that everyone is bought and sold, Kira. And I'm sorry, but today it's going to be you."

"Five thousand? For one slave? That's highway robbery."

"I'm a thief, that's what I do. At any rate, that's the amount Torrance spent on me."

"He's a fool. He always was. He neglected perfectly good business opportunities to pursue his own sadistic vendetta. I would be surprised if he had a brain in his head."

Tor shuts off the recording and turn to Atai.

"Tell me," he demands. "Is that the sound of you insulting me and doing business with Sierra kriffing Bonteri?"

…

"All I had to do was take over a secretary's HoloMail account with a little help from Hutch to transfer Atai to Tor's cell and then deliver the recording from the security footage," Mina says and sips her caf again.

"I never thought he would ever come in handy," I admit. "Just out of curiosity, how much did we net for this job?"

Lux smiles. "A pretty good chunk of credits. And Kira, this is for you."

He hands Kira the receipt for a credit deposit and her eyes bulge when she sees the amount.

"I can't accept this." She stammers.

"We didn't give it to you; you earned it." Lux says. "That deposit is a compensation payment for eight years of wages that Atai owes to you. We factored in ten-hour days and seven-day weeks at the average hourly wage for a maid, and came up with … that."

"I don't know what to say," Kira breathes, unable to take her eyes off her money. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

"Don't thank us. Thank Atai. He's the one who footed the bill for it." Steela says. "I was merely the collections agent."

…

After she knocked Atai out with Tandin's sleeping draught, Steela opened her briefcase and pulled out an enormous sack.

"All right," she said to herself. "Let's get this party started."

She deftly cleared out all of Atai's precious possessions: the art, the jewels and precious metals, and the expensive wines and liquors. When all of those had been taken care of, she walked along the wall, tapping it, until she heard a hollow ring near one of the paintings.

"He could think of a better place to hide a wall safe," she mused, removed the hidden panel, and pressed her ear to the lock in order to crack it.

…

"It's not like he's going to miss any of his stuff anyway." Saw pointed out.

"That'll put a dent in your expenses." I say, gently elbowing Kira.

"And the next year's." Kira stands. "It's been a pleasure working with you all, but my leave at the Academy will expire tomorrow."

"Of course, dear." Mina says. "I pressed your uniform for you; it's on your bed as we speak."

KIRA

"You're sure you want to go back to the Academy?" Sierra asks. "I can have Hutch cook up something to make it look like you transferred."

"As tempting as that may be, Senator Organa is counting on me." I say, buttoning up the front of my uniform.

"Well, if you change your mind the offer still stands." She says and crosses her arms. "Ahsoka said she wants to see you in here alone, so I'd better get going. Good grifting. And thanks for putting up with all the hogwash I gave you."

"You too."

Sierra walks out of the room and Ahsoka comes in on her heels.

"Here," Ahsoka says and fastens something around my neck. "I want you to have this."

I examine the charm. It's a circular silver pendant inscribed with an Onderonian symbol.

"It's a Unifras medallion," she explains. "I know you don't have the same religion as the rest of us, but it'll help to build your cover story. Also, I hope it'll protect you."

"Thank you," I say, dropping the medal against my breastbone.

Ahsoka sighs. "Be careful, Kira."

"I will," I say and bow to her like the Jedi I am and she once was. "May the force be with you."

The motion is foreign, as if she hasn't done it in a long time, but Ahsoka bows to me. "And also with you."

…

"Good luck, Kira." Saw says and holds his palm out in front of him expectantly. Steela clears her throat and Saw switches to a handshake.

"May the force be with you," Steela says, offering her hand to shake as well.

"With you and your team as well," I say. "I hope we meet again someday."

"We'll get Hutch to track you down," she smirks. "Isn't that right?"

"Heck yeah," Hutch turns from his computer. "Kira, if you ever need something, just call me up." He says. "And I'll find you."

"And I'll bake a cake for the occasion. Just try to do it in the next few months." Hero says, "Before we have two kids to worry about."

I smile at her. "Congratulations, all of you. Katooni, you're going to be a wonderful big sister."

A bite of cake freezes on its way to Katooni's mouth. "Mom, can Kira be my Jedi master when I get older?"

"We'll see, Katooni." Hutch answers, sparing me from any awkward explanations.

Rex is next in line. "It was a pleasure working with you again, Commander Narro."

"You too, Rex." I remember something Ahsoka told me to say "Before I go, I'd like to wish you luck on your relationship with Steela."

Steela pales. "Not you too!"

Saw cackles. "We'll make sure to invite you to the wedding!"

I allow the joke to simmer down before proceeding to Lux.

"Give Jim my regards when you see him next," he says, slightly distracted by Tavin toddling around our legs. "Say bye-bye, Tav."

"Bye-bye!" Tav chirps. "Bye-bye, Kiwa!"

His childish attempt to say my name melts my heart. "Bye-bye, Tav."

Tav toddles away and Mina and Tandin nod to me.

"Good to meet you, Kira." Mina says. "Thank you for all your help."

I fix my cap on my head. "Thank you for helping Senator Organa and I take down the Zygerrian slave empire. That'll put quite a dent in the slave trade, and it means the universe to me. Thank you."

"You're welcome. It does to all of us as well." Mina replies.

"That's the truth," Ahsoka says as she opens the boarding ramp and the Alderaanian sun shines in. "Good luck, Kira. "You're such a good grifter I doubt this'll be the last time we cross paths."

"Hopefully it'll be under good circumstances." I give the group one final look. "Goodbye, everyone."

I walk down the ramp through the chorus of goodbyes and choose the quickest route to the exit. If I walk quickly, I should make it to the Academy before lights-out.

"Hey!"

I turn to see Sierra jogging down the boarding ramp. When she reaches the base, she tosses something into the air.

I catch it: a balled-up piece of flimsi with a comm number scribbled on it.

"For emergencies!" Sierra calls.

I pocket the flimsi and smile at her. "I'll keep it close."

"See you later, Eva!" Sierra waves and hurries up the ramp. It closes behind her right before the ship's engines ignite.

I tuck the flimsi into my breast pocket and watch as the ship flies away. Then I take a deep breath and continue on my way to the Imperial Academy, my credits, the medallion, and the con men's number safe in my pocket.

Everything considered, the mission was a success. Atai is behind bars, the Zeltrons are home, and everyone was paid today. There's only one thing I would change.

I wish Cadena could have seen this.

But as I walk back to the Academy, it occurs to me that wherever she is, Cadena probably can.

A/N: I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad to see it go, but this is the conclusion to "While Others Were Left Breathless."

I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed this story, but an even larger thanks is in order for MusicKeeper, for letting me borrow her OC and, you know, letting me do this; as well as to katieroseful for giving her permission for Cadena to appear.

As for the next story, I actually have a release date. On May 4th, in honor of both May the Fourth be with You and my one-year anniversary on this site, "Dating in the Dark Times" will be up!

Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Johnt12345, Rose Ravenclaw, McAwesome, and Starlight Moon Midnight for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

Lux's Sister